Are audiences watching the wrong films?

It’s fair to say that it hasn’t been the greatest year for Hollywood – despite the incredible box-office returns of the year’s three Marvel pictures, and the return of the Toy Story franchise, there’s also been a sizeable contingent of duds (and high-profile duds at that). Some would say that it’s down to Hollywood to make better films, and there’s some truth there, but Forbes writer Scott Mendelson has come up with another suggestion – to quote the title of his piece, ‘Hollywood is in trouble because we’re seeing the wrong movies’. Is this a fair summary? Are audiences to blame for the poor crop of 2019 movies?

If people’s experience of going to the cinema is always negative, why would they keep doing it?

Mendelson notes that there was a similar slump in 2014 because of the delayed releases of big pictures like Fifty Shades of Grey and Furious 7. However, there is no such situation this year – rather, the big releases are struggling. He highlights Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Men in Black: International and X-Men: Dark Phoenix as three major examples of this trend. There are issues here – cinema-goers claim to be after original new stories, but they appear to return to the big-name picks instead of smaller original films, and then have a bad time. This then has a knock-on effect – if people’s experience of going to the cinema is always negative, why would they keep doing it?

It’s important to note that going to the cinema is an increasingly expensive experience, and it’s the big tent-pole films which have the power to attract audiences. This is why you need things like the Odeon Screen Unseen, exposing viewers to films they might not otherwise watch in the cinema. I enjoyed The Florida Project and Wild Rose, but I’d never have deliberately gone to see them on the big screen – they’re the kind of films which you could just as easily enjoy at home. Going to the cinema is an experience, and it’s the blockbuster picks that are generally the best for that kind of experience.

For producers, if audiences are coming to watch a crap superhero film, there’s no reason not to churn out another

Add onto this the emergence of the streaming services, who are producing smaller flicks that are comparable to smaller Hollywood films. Why would I want to go to the cinema to watch Booksmart (for example) when there is an offering that is just as good on Netflix? But a big superhero picture – well, I’m only getting that on the big screen, so it’s clear which one takes priority when I’m buying a ticket. And, in doing so, it does help influence where the money goes – for producers, if audiences are coming to watch a crap superhero film, there’s no reason not to churn out another.

I want to consider another factor – I’m sorry, but it’s politics. Christian Toto, of HollywoodinToto.com, retweeted this article with the comment ‘Critic lectures audience… Stop ignoring woke cinema!’, and there is also a degree of truth in that. He cites examples like Long Shot, Booksmart, The Dead Don’t Die and Late Night (all of which are heavily liberal films) and says that, if they are available, ‘there has to be some responsibility on the part of theatregoers to make better choices.’ However, because these films reflect his own stance on issues, Mendelson ignores a key fact – that all of these films (with the exception of the genuinely funny Booksmart) have middling reviews themselves.

He says (quite rightly) that audiences only turn out for, and the media only trumpets, diverse movies which are already the films people want to see

I’ve seen all of the films Mendelson recommends, and they’re no better than the big duds that he derides. It’s not that they’re superior, but they reinforce his critical biases – biases that a lot of the country simply doesn’t share. Late Night’s trailer says that the main character is struggling because of ‘stale’ white men – why would you expect that demographic to come to the film? Dark Phoenix is also guff, but it’s for everyone. (I want to make clear that a particular stance doesn’t ruin a film – Booksmart is liberal as anything, but I thought it was hilarious.)

He also discusses diversity, a major issue for Hollywood at the moment, writing that the industry was ‘ridiculously slow to catch on to the financial value of diverse/inclusive popcorn entertainment’. He says (quite rightly) that audiences only turn out for, and the media only trumpets, diverse movies which are already the films people want to see. Audiences flocked to Black Panther and Aladdin but, as the latest Marvel and Disney picks, they were going to do that anyway. He cites Pacific Rim: Uprising and The Spy Who Dumped Me as proof that audiences ignore random films that star/were written by/directed by men and women of colour, again ignoring the fact that they were bad films.

Audiences should vote with their feet and not watch rubbish films like Dark Phoenix, in order to encourage Hollywood to make films that aren’t just cash cows

Mendelson says that the cinemas need to get more people to go and watch ‘good’ movies in the face of streaming services, because the non-event movies are doing worse than ever in box office terms, and that’s why 2019 cinema is struggling. The issue, however, is what he defines as ‘good’, and his seeming inability to understand why those movies don’t appeal to everyone. Audiences should vote with their feet and not watch rubbish films like Dark Phoenix, in order to encourage Hollywood to make films that aren’t just cash cows, but it’s not completely their fault that they aren’t watching unappealing smaller films too.